


Perfect Teatime

by the1eyedtree



Series: Dimiclaude Birthday Week 2020 [4]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Confessions, Day 5, Dimiclaude Birthday Week (Fire Emblem), First Kiss, Fodlan Customs, Kissing, M/M, Misreading Customs, teatime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:28:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26018791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the1eyedtree/pseuds/the1eyedtree
Summary: Day 5 of Dimiclaude Birthday Week -- Theme: Comfort, Custom & Culture, FamilyClaude finds a book on social etiquette in the library and learns a new way to show his appreciation to Dimitri when they have a perfect teatime together.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan
Series: Dimiclaude Birthday Week 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883053
Comments: 2
Kudos: 61





	Perfect Teatime

**Author's Note:**

> This came from a conversation my friend and I had about Claude learning social norms from some old library book -- we'd say Claude and Dimitri definitely benefited from this new knowledge lol!

It started like most things in Claude’s life, _with a book_. He had been putting off reading from the section of the monastery library that held books on etiquette. Part of him knew that there would of course be useful information on the social norms and expectations of Fódlan, but he had also convinced himself that there were more important subjects for him to read up on. And he had read up on them. Now there was no excuse not to read these books. He grabbed a couple of them and walked down the stairs, grateful that it was late at night – no one would be bothering him.

He set his stack of books down on a table and stretched his arms over his head. He sat down and set to work. The first book was legitimately all about setting up a dining table. Claude filed the information on how to insult one’s guests with fork placement in his mind and moved on to the next book. It had a white cover, but the title had long faded away. It had to be at least….800 pages? He took a deep breath and started working through it. This one seemed to be more of a guide to social situations, especially with nobles. Lorenz and Ferdinand followed these rules to the tee.

Claude came to a section about having tea with someone and skimmed through it.

“Wait, have I been doing it wrong?” he muttered to himself. No wonder Teach gave him odd looks when they had tea together – he must’ve looked like quite the fool. Claude noted everything about this section and continued to read into the night.

. . .

The Professor had suggested that the houses mingle with each other more – especially the house leaders. Claude did not mind this change in the slightest – it gave him the in that he needed to learn more about the Prince and Princess. He told himself that his heart skipped a beat when he was with Dimitri because he was getting closer to his dreams. That had to be it, right?

After a particularly strenuous afternoon of equipment upkeep, Claude invited Dimitri and Edelgard to tea. He was honestly quite surprised that they accepted. They walked down to the gazebo and were just about to sit down when Hubert found them.

“My apologies.” Claude managed not to smirk at the lack of sincerity in Hubert’s voice. “Lady Edelgard there is an urgent matter that needs your attention.”

“Very well, perhaps I can join you both another time.” Edelgard genuinely seemed disappointed which surprised Claude again. Lots of surprises today it would seem. He and Dimitri bid her goodbye and set to preparing everything for their tea. At this point, Claude would not have blamed Dimitri if he did not wish to stay and be alone with Claude. But Dimitri eagerly helped set up their table, and even poured their tea. Claude inhaled the calming scent of chamomile and blatantly ignored the fluttering of his heart.

He focused on his etiquette and appearing relaxed. He learned that while Dimitri enjoyed spending nearly all of his time training, he lamented the fact that he hadn’t had fun like he was having now in quite some time.

Wait.

Hold on.

Dimitri was having fun?

_With Claude??_

“Well, we’ll just have to do this more often!” Claude was thankful he still had control over his voice.

“That would be nice.” Dimitri’s smile was just off from being his typical princely smile…. _that was a genuine smile!_ Claude’s pulse thundered in his ears. They continued to chat and enjoy themselves – Claude was thankful they were drinking chamomile and not his other favorite tea. He needed the calming effect, not the caffeine right now. He found himself mesmerized by the way Dimitri avoided eye contact when he was particularly passionate about what he was saying. Dimitri’s bangs gave him something to hide behind without being obvious that he was hiding.

The bells in the cathedral rang to signal the passing of another hour and Claude was smacked with the reminder that he had dish duty today.

“Ah, I have to go…Let's plan to do this again sometime!” Claude said as he stood.

“I’ll take care of things here, please do not worry!” Dimitri folded his hands on the table and nodded towards the tea.

“Thanks – this was fun!” Claude said and bent down, pressing a kiss to Dimitri’s cheek and jogging off in the direction of the dining hall.

Luckily, no one else was around.

No one was there to see Dimitri frozen in place, flushed red and mouth agape. 

. . .

Sylvain rested his chin on his hand and listened to Dimitri recount his earlier teatime with Claude.

“Did I miss something?” Dimitri let his shoulders slump.

“Well, I’m not surprised, if either of you continued to not make a move the whole monastery was going to go _crazy_!”

“ _Sylvain_.”

“I’m serious Your Highness – you and Claude would be great together! And he thinks so too, hence why he made a move!”

“So…it might be wise to truly consider his courtly advance.” Dimitri straightened his posture and nodded, feeling determined.

“So, about-,”

“If you continue to flirt with the daughters of powerful generals, I don’t think even _I_ can help you.”

“Yeah, thanks Dimitri.”

. . .

Claude sneezed and tried to shake the water and suds out of his clothes. He was feeling less than grand. He trudged out of the dining hall and nearly walked right into Dimitri.

“Ah, Claude! Oh – are you alright?”

“I- _achoo!_ I’m okay, thanks for asking.” Claude attempted to smile, but it didn’t quite…stick.

“You’re _soaked_. Perhaps a warm bath would amend your…sneeziness?”

“A bath, huh? Not a bad idea Your Princeliness!” Claude then noticed that Dimitri was holding something behind his back. Claude also had to take a second to convince his mind that Dimitri was not carrying a knife behind his back to kill him with. If Dimitri was going to kill him, he would do it with honor. Still, his curiosity was impossible to ignore. “What do you have there?”

Dimitri blushed.

“Well, I…um.”

“Are you speechless?” Claude’s lips parted in surprise. Dimitri held his hand up to his mouth and cleared his throat.

“I have something for you, but perhaps you would rather get comfortable first?”

“Something for little ol me?” Claude tried to peek around Dimitri to see whatever he was holding. Dimitri held up the small bouquet of flowers that he had been holding behind his back. “Oooohhh…?”

The flowers were pretty, but why would Dimitri bring him flowers? Perhaps Claude had actually slipped and hit his head when he was attempting to wash the dishes. Because there’s no way Dimitri actually liked him. There couldn’t be.…..could there? Dimitri cleared his throat again.

“I wanted to give these to you. I enjoyed our time together today, and our time together every day in fact.” Claude _had_ to have hit his head. “Claude? Are you okay?”

“Flowers?”

“Do they displease you? I had thought that they were a nice way to propose courtship.”

“Courtship??” Claude’s voice betrayed him and jumped up at least two octaves.

“Y-yes?” Dimitri suddenly paled. “Oh Goddess, I misread you earlier didn’t I…..”

“Wait…earlier, oh! When we were at tea?”

“You kissed me.”

“Yeah, to tell you I liked it!”

“What?”

“Well that’s what you’re supposed to do……right?”

“ _What?_ ”

“Um…” Claude cleared his throat and tried to ignore how cold he was. The book he read last night clearly stated that one was supposed to show their enjoyment of tea or a meal together with a kiss. He had even taken notes… Claude was taking too long to think, and Dimitri was looking sadder by the second. “Let’s go for a walk.”

Dimitri nodded and blushed when Claude took the flowers from him. They set off, but Claude quickly redirected them back to the dorms – he couldn’t ignore the need to change clothes any longer.

“You know what? It’s nice and warm in here – let’s stay inside instead,” Claude said as he dug out some fresh clothes. Dimitri stepped back towards the door.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” Dimitri said, reaching for the door handle.

“You can just turn around – I know you won’t peek!” Claude said with a wink. Dimitri gulped and turned away when Claude started pulling off his uniform jacket. Claude quickly changed and laid his wet clothes out to dry. “Okay – all done!” Dimitri hesitated to turn around, and Claude started feeling nervous. “Hey Dimitri?” Dimitri slowly turned and seemed to relax a little before tensing a fraction.

“You weren’t trying to say you liked me earlier, were you?” Dimitri was holding himself as one would when they were expecting bad news, but did not want to appear disappointed.

“No – no, wait I…..you wanna hear a funny story?” Dimitri raised an eyebrow at him. “Soooooo I found this book in the library, and it had a whole section on traditional teatime customs. Annnd I…thought you were supposed to tell kiss someone to tell them you had fun…” Claude stared up into Dimitri’s eyes.

“That’s…something that married couples customarily do.”

“ _Oh_.”

“But…..I didn’t have a chance to tell you that I had fun too.”

They stared at each other for a few moments. Claude’s eyes locked on to the bob of Dimitri’s throat when he swallowed. Claude felt the armor of Dimitri’s hand guide his chin upwards. Claude’s heart raced as Dimitri leaned closer. Their lips brushed. Time felt like it was frozen, and the only thing either of them could focus on was the way the other’s breath hitched. Claude pressed closer and their lips met fully. Dimitri placed his other hand on Claude’s waist to steady himself. Claude braced himself on Dimitri’s shoulders. This was how kissing worked right? They parted when breathing became a sudden necessity. Their cheeks were flushed, their hearts were racing, and the world felt so much lighter.

“Guess you had _a lot of fun_ then?” Claude said as smoothly as he could manage. His breath caught in his throat when he realized that Dimitri was staring at his lips. Claude’s mind attempted to come up with a witty line, but it couldn’t, so he slid his hand up comb his fingers through Dimitri’s hair and guide his face back to his own.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! I hope y'all enjoyed these this week as much as I've enjoyed writing them!


End file.
